We experience ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) events every day. That annoying spark from a metal doorknob, static cling from the clothes dryer, and in its most majestic form, the lightning bolt.

Opposites attract, and positive and negative ions are no exception. ESD events occur when any two objects with dissimilar electrostatic potential (positive/negative) come into close proximity to each other.

Whether the ESD event is a tree struck by lightning or the discharge of a triboelectrically generated charge onto a single circuit board device, the net effect is much the same. Damages can and often do occur. It's all proportional.

Voltage Sensitivity

As a non-profit organization dedicated to a better understanding of the impact of static electricity on the electronics industry, the EOS/ESD Association (www.esda.org) published a series of classifications in 1993 to define the level of voltage sensitivity of circuit pack technologies.

All Class 1x devices (which are used in many high technology applications) were defined as having voltage sensitivity ranges lower than 2,000 volts.

Given that the lowest static charge that a human can feel is 2,500 volts, damages from electrostaticdischarge can occur to Class 1x technologies without the handler being physically aware that a static event ever took place.